Graduate work in MEP at GWU

Museum Evaluation

I, along with my classmates, evaluated the Elephant Outpost at the National Zoological Park (NZP) in the Summer of 2012 as part of the Museum Education Program. We met with NZP staff to discuss their goals in the evaluation, wrote evaluation questions, established data collection tools and protocol, collected data through focused observation and visitor interviews, analyzed, reported and presented our findings to out peers and NZP staff. Summer 2012, Museum Education Program, The George Washington University

Museums: pARTners in LearningAn Exhibition of Student Artwork from the Association of Art Museum Directors at the U.S. Department of Education

The Association of Art Museum Directors presents Museums: pARTners in Learning, an exhibition of student artwork at the U.S. Department of Education. The exhibition examines the remarkable results of creative and innovative programs that museums offer in partnership with their local schools. Fifteen art museums are exhibiting works from diverse programs, from art-making workshops to cross-curricular programs that connect art to math, science, and language arts. Artworks from the exhibition and information about these education programs are available online at www.aamd.org/partnersinlearning2012.

The exhibition will be at the U.S. Department of Education from May 11-June 22, 2012 and the opening event is May 15, 2012 from noon to 1:00PM.

As a graduate intern on this project, I assisted The Phillips Collection Education Department in coordinating the collaboration among the organizing partners of this exhibition (Association of Art Museum Directors, the U.S. Department of Education, the Delaware Art Museum, and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum). I summarized and synthesized data from participating museums regarding their programs and impacts into curatorial themes. I also developed the interpretive wall text for each museum program. My other major responsibilities in this project were developing the corresponding online exhibition, registrarial duties, planning the opening event, and installing the exhibition.

Educations Week's blog, Curriculum Matters, featured the exhibition in a post. You can also read my experience at the exhibition opening in a post I wrote for The Phillips Collection blog, The Experiment Station. Internship completed in Spring 2012, Museum Education Program, The George Washington University

Education Innovators, Smithsonian EdLab

Education Innovators is a program that developed out of the idea that museums and classrooms needed a fresh view on using technology to learn. Graduate students tackle an education problem and develop a practice using new media to address it. The practices are tested and honed throughout the process and presented at a forum at the end of the program.

The problem I chose to address was how to get English Language Learners (ELLs) to continue their language development outside of the classroom in an informal format. I wanted to create something that was visual,conversational, and online. I created a Facebook page, called PoppyChat, where ELLs could post an image relating to a weekly theme, describe it, and respond to other posts.

While I was able to get some of my friends to participate, I was ultimately unable to get ELLs to the Facebook page. I was attempting to create a digital community that had no connection to an actual community. Successful social media connects actual, living communities online and my practice was ultimately disconnected from a living community. However, I learned a great deal from this process and will carry the lessons learned into future projects. View my PoppyChat presentation from the Education Innovators Forum at the National Postal Museum on May 8, 2012. Spring 2012

Hot Topics Research Project: D.I.Y. Zeitgeist!

My partner, Samantha Barbosa, and I investigated the current Do-It-Yourself (D.I.Y.) movement and its implications for museum education. D.I.Y. connotes crafts handmade items, and home renovations, but it extends way beyond that. D.I.Y. Zeitgeist empowers individuals and communities to tackle alternative approaches and solutions when dissatisfied with what is available. To make our small eight-page booklet on this topic, print the file below and follow these instructions on how to fold it.Spring 2012 , Museum Education Program, The George Washington University

Symmetry in Art and Life at The National GalleryKindergarten Class at Brent Elementary School

My Museum Teaching Project, Symmetry in Art and Life, was completed over the course of the Fall 2011 semester. I spent sixteen hours a week with a kindergarten class at Brent Elementary School in Washington, DC. Throughout the fall, I worked with the students in their classroom to embrace their specific strengths and needs as a museum audience. I developed a three part lesson on the concept of symmetry to correspond with their math curriculum unit of patterns.

The pre-lesson introduced the concept of symmetry. The students identified symmetry in several images, capital letters of the alphabet, using their bodies, and on their own.

For the museum lesson, I took the class to the National Gallery of Art, East Building to identify symmetry in three pieces of modern art: Bruce Nauman's Fifteen Pairs of Hands, Wayne Thiebaud's Cakes, and Henri Matisse's Large Composition with Masks.

In the post-lesson, the students recreated Matisse's Large Composition with Masks by arranging colors symmetrically.

To see the full interpretive plan, download the PDF below. Fall 2011, Museum Education Program, The George Washington University

Group Teaching Project

United States Botanic Garden

Our group teaching project’s outcome was for our audience to be better able to embrace interconnectedness. In the Plant Explorations Gallery, we emphasized world-wide connections between people and plants using the tea plant as an example. We asked our audience to consider the path from plant to product and the steps in between. In the Medicinal Plants Gallery, we emphasized personal connections people have with plants using the aloe plant an an example. We asked participants to recall personal experiences with the plants. We hope our lesson led to an increased mindfulness about their relationship with the plant world.

Self-Guide Project

Home Sweet Home in the U.S. Botanic Garden

With this self-guide, we aimed for our participants to be better able to save the planet. By using an entire gallery as our objects, participants observed the physical characteristics of three environments. We asked them to consider the advantages and challenges of each environment and how humans can overcome those challenges by building appropriate homes. Participants considered how the environment affects their dwelling and whether or not their dwelling is appropriate for their environment. We hope this self-guide will cause participants to be more mindful of their local environment when making housing choices.

Completed in collaboration with Dawn Coleman in Summer 2011 of the Museum Education Program at the George Washington University.

Five Minute Object Lesson

I asked my audience to identify the purpose and meaning of a subo (a Korean embroidered wrapping cloth), which the audience was unfamiliar with. I used a familiar plastic shopping bag as a comparison object. Through observation of the objects’ physical qualities and discussion, the audience was able to determine that each item is used to hold, carry, or store items. The noticeable difference in material and craftsmanship indicated very different purposes. Summer 2011, Museum Education Program, The George Washington University